Show 1 11 I 1 WOMEN wa W SOUTH ww thoo 2114 l from tintcy to obey rutan haw would the modern american SM enjoy ufa life in a caa following the example of the m modem woman of the south sm aea islands Island sT at any rate there aro an no breach of promise suits on the island of new britain in the south sm sea the natives in the simple polynesian way iray have solved the problem that worries so many american mothers of young daugh daughters and the maidens of the island never get into bad company or entanglements entangle ments of any sort up to the day of their marraine mar mige thes natives are a simple so sort rt of folk I 1 11 1 simplicity can be used in connection with a people that renounced cannibalism is only within the last fifteen years they are of a dark brown color medium height and they would rather eat than fight it was not so long ago that a feast followed every fight on the island and the edibles were the roasted or fricasseed fricas seed bodies of the worsted wanted combatants in the battle but now the tribes no longer make war on ong one another instead they loaf and eat and do as little work as they can their ideas of morality could be given in a very short chapter almost as short as the famous one about snakes in ireland but they are great sticklers klers for their complicated and peculiar marriage customs there are two classes and a man may not marry out of his class girls become wives wires at 11 or 12 years of age and their wedding Is literally their co coming maing out party from fram the age of one year to the date of their marriage these poor little maidens are kept in wicker cages inside the small thatched huts they are as much prisoners as any unfortunate criminal behind prison tars the cages to be sure are light and alry airy and the occupant is able to see all that Is going on in the free world outside but they cant come out and play and all the pleasures of childhood even a south sea lea childhood are denied them this is s not such a hardship as would seem at first consideration because the little ones are im aured in their cages at such an early age that they grow up without thinking to rebel against their enforced cap unity once a day only are they taken from their cages to be washed fod is given them through the interstices which are plenty large enough to admit the little fresh air that gains entrance to the low cabins the girls grow fat and healthy on this sort ol of life and these are doubtless the qualities deemed most de desirable in a south sea wife but to an american it seems almost incomprehensible that a people living almost altogether out of doors in an equatorial climate should so bring up their young females still the plan has its advantages there Is no fear of the frisky maidens staying out too late at night nor need their parents be alarmed lest the daughters get into had bad company when the ardent young mn man finds a girl whom he would like to make his wife he is compelled to do his wooing through the bars papas chairs chain are never broken bj because cause of having to carry double weights weight and all the courting is necessarily done in the daytime As a consequence when the young girl leaves her cage to become a wife the husband is possessed of at none of those harassing doubts that come with a higher civilization civi litin and they make good div wives es too and are ready should the fates bring them daughters daugh texa to keep them close within the same cage sull still the south sea girls of today are luckier than those of thirty years ago they were not brought up at all then but simply killed at 1311 birth th and the young men of the tribe went to neighboring islands for wives ives so the march of civilization has the island of new britain in its path after all ail |